Kurzinfo

The video on Anyang

provides impressions of our visit to the Archaeological Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Anyang. Prof. Dr. Su Rongyu 蘇榮譽, who has been closely connected with the research at the Department of Sinology in Erlangen, and our visiting fellow, Prof. Dr. Iwo Amelung (Frankfurt), arranged for our group to visit the Institute and enter into an exchange with the research member, Dr. Yue Zhanwei 岳占偉. Our visit to the ruins of Yinxu 殷墟, situated in Anyang, included the inspection of the site, and we were even allowed to view the ongoing archaeological excavations. Among the countless human sacrifices and bronze vessels, thousands of oracle bones have been found at Yinxu. Oracle bone inscriptions are not only seen as the first instance of Chinese writing, but are also the first major source for divination in China. Traveling to the “birthplace” of divination in China, our two Consortia found themselves at the heart of the intersection between the history of religions and the ancient history of science.